Freelance Writers: How to Prioritize Your Schedule to Make More Money

The more you delve into freelance writing, the more you find you will have to do to maintain success – eg, article marketing, marketing directly to clients, updating your website, creating new samples, adding new services, etc. The list is endless.

Following are three things freelance writers can do to prioritize their schedules so they make more money.

Freelance Writers: 3 Ways to Maximize Your Time to Make More Money

Focus on Income-Producing Tasks: It’s easy to get sidetracked by trying to fit everything in. The commodity that freelance writers trade is time. And, when it’s at a premium, you must focus on income-producing projects.

"Believe it or not, your personality can cause you to lose money."

Assess Your Freelance Writer’s Personality: Believe it or not, your personality can cause you to lose money. If, for example, you’re an A-type, you may be too demanding of yourself. While it’s okay to pile on the work, when it gets to the point where you don’t have downtime, you’ll burn out.

At some point, you’re going to have to recharge. Type A’s, for example, may have a hard time scheduling in some downtime. But, in the end, a rested body is one that functions better. You’ll be able to take on more demanding work (hence, charge more); tackle personal income-producing projects (eg, write that ebook!); and/or negotiate better rates with clients.

"Turning down work can mean more money in your pocket, not less."

Turn Down Work: Believe it or not, turning down work can mean more money, not less. How is this possible? It all goes back to maximizing your time. For example, if you have clients who pay you $15 per post for blog posts and other clients pay $40 per article for search engine optimized articles, then it’s time to assess how you’re allocating your marketing time and how you set your rates.

Should you raise your blog posting rates? Should you market for more clients who need search engine optimized content? As soon as you start to bring in higher-paying clients on a regular basis, focus on bringing in more of these types of clients.

It’s no crime to turn down work because, as mentioned previously, as a freelance writer the commodity you trade is time.

And, maximizing your time is one of the best things you can do to make more money. To paraphrase Thomas Jefferson said, "time is money and you can’t manufacture more of it."

About the Author: Yuwanda Black is a freelance writer and the author of 10 freelance writing ebooks, including How to Find Unpublished Freelance Writing Jobs. Ms. Black says, "You can work from home as a freelance writer. I do it every day." Learn more about how to start a successful freelance writing career.